Description––––––––––––––––Veronica Lake stars as Connie Dickason, strong–willed daughter of Ben Dickason (Charles Ruggles), a ranch owner who has become the toady of a powerful local cattleman, Frank Ivey (Preston Foster), whom Ben once wanted Connie to marry. Connie instead married a sheep rancher and inherited his spread. With her husband out of the picture, Connie becomes determined to run the ranch despite the opposition of Ivey and her father. In her camp are the town drunk, veteran cowhand Dave Nash (Joel McCrea) and a crew of anti–Ivey locals. The resulting bloody range war is much to the dismay of Dave, who wants to resolve Connie's problems with Ivey legally.

Description––––––––––––––––––This first–rate, little–known film noir, a hard, harsh, fast–moving thriller, stars the great antihero John Garfield in his final role. He plays a petty criminal who kills a cop during a payroll robbery, picks up an innocent girl (Shelley Winters) at a swimming pool while making his escape and takes her family hostage in their modest apartment as the dragnet closes in.

It's a doom–laden movie, wonderfully lit by cinematographer James Wong Howe, where the troubled killer and his uncomplicated captives are from a similar blue–collar urban background. Before it was released, director John Berry went into French exile rather than testify before the House Un–American Activities Committee, and the following year the left–wing Garfield died aged 39 as a result of political harassment. The screenplay is signed by Hugo Butler and Guy Endore, both subsequently blacklisted, but most of it was the work of Dalton Trumbo, in jail as one of the Hollywood 10 when it was made.

ABOUT THE BOXSET–––––––––––––––––––––Out of the vaults and into the light: a fascinating 4–Disc Set showcasing 8 genre gems rich with the intensity and diversity of noir! Disc 1 wreaks revenge, with Dick Powell on the hunt in Cornered and Steve Brodie on the lam in Desperate. Caught–in–the–act immediacy highlights Disc 2╥s corruption expose The Phenix City Story and the hostage drama Dial 1119. Disc 3 turns procedural with noir ace Charles McGraw bulldogging the perps of an Armored Car Robbery then turns to social–conscience filmmaking with Crime in the Streets (John Cassavetes and Sal Mineo star). An unfatale femme is rare in noir but invaluable when strong dames help their men out of jams, as do Disc 4╥s Susan Hayward in Deadline at Dawn and Virginia Mayo in Backfire. Step into the shadows and suspense.

From England to continental Europe to Buenos Aires, ex–RCAF pilot Dick Powell stalks the Nazi collaborator who murdered his bride. But one fact constantly surfaces during his quest: no one can describe the mysterious man. Joining Powell in the film shadows are the director and other key talent behind Murder, My Sweet of the year before.

Desperate is the first of seven atmospheric noirs directed by Anthony Mann. Steve Brodie is a postwar every man who accepts what he thinks is an honest trucking job, only to find heÆs the driver in a botched heist that puts Brodie and his bride (Audrey Long) on the run from the cops and the cons who planned the job (including chief thug Raymond Burr).

Description––––––––––––––––––Shoshone tribesman and Civil War hero Lance Poole (Robert Taylor) returns home with a Congressional Medal of Honor on his chest and a saddlebag full of dreams about prospering as a cattleman on his familyÆs land. But American Indians have no citizenship, no property rights. The courts, despite the efforts of LanceÆs attorney (Paula Raymond), offer no remedy. Lance and his people must fight to keep their land. DevilÆs Doorway, the first of the dozen or so groundbreaking Westerns by filmmaker Anthony Mann (Winchester Æ73), is one of the earliest films sympathetic to Native Americans, standing alongside the same yearÆs Broken Arrow. Perhaps not coincidentally, Lance PooleÆs tribal name is Broken Lance.